Shloka 31
Mantri-Parīkṣā — Testing Ministers, Securing Counsel, and Ethical Criteria for Advisers (अध्याय ८४)
व्यथयेद्धि स राजानं मन्त्रिभि: सहितोडनृजु: । मारुतोपहितच्छिद्रे: प्रविश्याग्निरिव द्रुमम्
vyathayed dhi sa rājānaṃ mantribhiḥ sahito 'nṛjuḥ | mārutopahita-chidraiḥ praviśyāgnir iva drumam ||
Bhīṣma said: “A crooked, deceitful minister—once he comes to know the king’s confidential deliberations—joins with other ministers and torments the king, just as fire, entering a tree through openings fanned by the wind, consumes the whole tree.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s confidential counsel is a vital safeguard of governance; if a dishonest minister gains access to secrets and allies with others, he can destroy the king’s stability from within—like wind-fed fire exploiting small openings to consume an entire tree.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on rājadharma, he warns about internal threats in the court: a crooked minister who learns secret deliberations can collaborate with other ministers to distress and undermine the king, illustrated through the vivid metaphor of fire entering a tree through wind-assisted gaps.